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Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Environmentalists react to Keystone XL Senate vote

Here's the press release, which we swiped from Bold Nebraska, which has a clever way for you to make sure President Obama vetoes the pipeline, should the new GOP Senate vote the other way in January. (Click on the link, above)
Want to know how YOUR senator voted last night on this issue? Click here.

The Senate voted today to reject a bill forcing approval of the
Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. In spite of heavy pressure from the oil
industry’s friends in Congress like Sen. Mary Landrieu, key Senators
held strong against the dangerous project, recognizing that the pipeline
would not be in our national interest because it would threaten our
land, water, and climate while bringing no economic benefit to the
American people.
Today’s vote is yet another blow to the pipeline’s prospects, as
recent momentum has shifted against approval of the controversial
project. Recent polling showed that as Americans have had more time to
learn about the Keystone XL, support for the pipeline has waned.
President Obama has also made it clear that he has serious reservations
about the project, telling reporters last week that the pipeline would
“[provide] the ability of Canada to pump their oil, send it through our
land, down to the Gulf, where it will be sold everywhere else. It
doesn’t have an impact on US gas prices.” The president has also
reaffirmed his commitment to evaluating the pipeline based on its impact
on climate, which experts agree would be significant.
Environmental and landowner groups applauded today’s vote as one more step in the road to rejection for the pipeline.

“Today’s defeat of Keystone XL should send a strong signal to the
incoming GOP-led Congress that farmers and ranchers will never back down
to their oil soaked intentions. We call on Pres. Obama to stand up and
reject Keystone XL now,” said Jane Kleeb of Bold Nebraska.“The bill would have turned Congress into a permitting authority,
overriding environmental law, and giving a green light to a pipeline
project that would worsen climate change and threaten water quality. The
Senate did the right thing to reject the misguided bill, and now the
president should do the right thing and reject the pipeline,” said
Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We applaud the Senators who stood up for the health of our families
and our climate by fighting back against this big polluter-funded
sideshow. There’s no good reason the Senate should have wasted all this
time on yet another meaningless push for Keystone XL. Since day one, the
decision on the pipeline has belonged to President Obama, and he has
repeatedly said he will reject this pipeline if it contributes to the
climate crisis. As there is no doubt that it does, we remain confident
that is precisely what he’ll do,” said Michael Brune, Executive Director
of the Sierra Club. “Once again, Congress tried to play games with our future–and failed.
Since Keystone XL has always been President Obama’s decision, this vote
was never anything more than an empty gesture of political theater,”
said 350.org Executive Director May Boeve. “Rather than letting Congress
continue to play politics with our climate, President Obama should step
up and reject this dirty tar sands pipeline once and for all. By
dramatically accelerating the expansion of tar sands oil development,
Keystone XL clearly fails President Obama’s own climate test. The
pipeline is a lose-lose for everyone except for TransCanada. The
President has all the information he needs to reject this pipeline now,
and we’re going to stand by him to make sure he does.” “We thank all the Senators who voted against this dangerous Keystone
legislation, and we’re more confident than ever that this pipeline will
never be built. The decision remains right where it belongs – with
President Obama and Secretary Kerry. In the last week alone, President
Obama announced a game-changing climate change agreement with China,
committed $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund, and raised his strongest
concerns to date about Keystone XL. This outstanding leadership builds
on the Clean Power Plan and other clean energy accomplishments, and we
believe that President Obama will remain consistent with that approach
by rejecting Keystone XL,” said League of Conservation Voters (LCV)
Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld. “It is likely that for the next two years we will be faced with one
of the most anti-environmental congresses in US history. Today, the
movement in opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline defeated Congress’s
first salvo and showed that we will not let Congress attack our public
health and destroy the environment,” said Ben Schreiber, Climate and
Energy Program Director with Friends of the Earth. “This vote offers a glimmer of hope that there’s some sanity left in
the Senate,” said Bill Snape, senior counsel with the Center for
Biological Diversity. “Still, it’s really disturbing that the vote got
this far. Keystone XL would be a disaster for our climate, environment
and wildlife – we’ve got no business giving it serious consideration,
especially for what it’ll do to the climate. Here’s hoping we can now
move on to bigger, better energy policies that don’t put profits ahead
of future generations.” “Keystone XL is breathing its last breath, and it’s time for
President Obama to rise to leadership and outright reject it once and
for all,” said Kendall Mackey, Tar Sands Organizer with Energy Action
Coalition. “Young people have voted, sat-in, and made our voices heard,
and now that Congress has rejected Keystone XL, it’s time for President
Obama to put the final nail in the coffin.” “The pundits keep saying it’s inevitable that we will lose the tar
sands pipeline wars, but activists just keep winning battles” said Steve
Kretzmann of Oil Change International “This pipeline makes no sense in
today’s oil market, before you even begin to consider climate and the
rights of landowners. Republicans and oily Democrats need to face facts –
Keystone XL will never be built”. “After the recent election the Republicans expressed the desire to
work with President Obama. We hope that Congress is serious about this
and that they will stop having these votes and let the Presidential
Permit process play out as it has been designed to do,” said Paul
Seamans, a Dakota Rural Action member whose land is crossed by the
proposed Keystone XL. The approval of the Keystone XL pipeline is a line in the sand, but
this isn’t the stuff of playgrounds. This dangerous project will
threaten drinking water and make it extremely difficult to avoid the
worst impacts of global warming. We applaud today’s vote and all those
senators who stood up against tremendous pressure from the oil industry
and its allies and did the right thing for our communities and our
children’s future. Unfortunately, we know this isn’t the last time the
Senate will attempt to do the bidding of Big Oil. Ultimately, we’re
counting on the President to continue his leadership on climate and veto
any measure to force approval of this dirty pipeline,” said Anna
Aurilio, Global Warming Solutions Program Director with Environment
America. “This is the president’s decision, and he is going to reject Keystone
XL, as he steps up and at long last starts using his executive powers
to combat climate change,” said Elijah Zarlin, CREDO’s senior campaign
manager. “All this Senate vote proves is that a handful of Democrats are
standing on the wrong side of history to join Mary Landrieu in a last
ditch effort to protect the oil industry’s profits.”

Maynard (Bob "Gilligan's Island" Denver) slyly flashes a nipple to the CBS eye while trying to talk his best buddy Dobie Gillis (Dwayne Hick­man) into taking off all his clothes. Whoever said 1950s television was a vast waste­land obviously didn't know where to look.